The developing epidemic of obesity, and the numerous adverse health conditions and increased health risks associated with being overweight, has generated a renewed interest in improving health and fitness. An important aspect of any fitness training regimen is strength and weight training. Strength and weight training develops the size and strength of muscles, but also improves cardiovascular functioning, promotes fat loss, and improves bone and joint strength. Basic strength and weight training uses the force of gravity acting on a weight to increase muscle strength. This weight may be supplied by specialized equipment or by the body itself. Training generally involves repetitive manipulation of the weight (reps) conducted in a number of sets. For example, one set of an exercise may consist of 10 reps. A trainee may then choose to complete 3 sets of 10 reps (30 total) with a slight rest taken between sets.
Specialized equipment has been developed for use in strength and weight training. This equipment can generally be segregated into two main types—free weights and weight machines. Strength training using free weights utilizes bars, barbells, weight plates, dumbbells, and kettle bells to generate muscle mass through repeated lifting of weight. Beyond focusing on the target muscles, free weight exercises require a trainee to use stabilizer muscles to maintain proper form throughout the exercise. Typically and by way of example, a bench press, squat or bicep curl uses a barbell (or curling bar) with a number of weighted plates slid over the end of the bar with the lifter then lifting the weighted bar using both arms or legs, as appropriate. Alternative exercises (typically for the arms, back, and shoulders) use a set of dumbbells with one dumbbell held in each hand. The weighted dumbbell is lifted, in tandem or one arm at a time, to conduct an exercise. Thus, dumbbells work each arm individually while a barbell works both arms (or legs) simultaneously. As a result, barbell exercises require a lifter to control the weight with each side of the body thereby promoting more even strength between the right side and left side. However, as the body must maintain and control all of the additional weight, strain is placed on the joints of the body and improper form can damage joints and muscles leading to injury. Additionally, muscle fatigue during exercise may cause a trainee to slip or drop the weight which can impact the body causing severe injury. Strength and weight training using free weights is often cost prohibitive as a trainee will need to purchase at least one of a number of bars (such as a straight bar, chin-up bar and/or curling bar), a number of weighted plates, and a set of dumbbells (typically at least 8 to 12 weights).
An alternative to free weights are weight machines which have been developed to simulate the movements conducted during free weight training with the benefit of having the machine promote proper form and aid in preventing injuries associated with free weights. However, weight machines control movement of the weight thereby allowing the user to favor certain muscles over others. For instance, when conducting a squat press using a weight machine, a lifter can rely upon a dominant muscle group (e.g. the right quadriceps) to perform more of the lifting than other muscle groups (e.g. the left quadriceps). Thus, while a lifter may perform the squat using proper form, the lifter is developing more muscle strength in one area to the detriment of another. This imbalance may lead to injury during activity as the understrength muscles may not be able to handle the demands placed on those muscles during that activity, i.e. the imbalance between the muscles of the left leg and right leg require the left leg to work harder during the activity. If too much demand is made upon the muscles of the left leg, those muscles could pull or tear leading to injury. Additionally, weight machines generally only conduct one or possibly two different movements. Thus, numerous machines will have to be purchased to conduct a full body workout. In an attempt to alleviate this demand, and to make strength and weight training more accessible, a number of at-home multi-exercise weight machines have been developed which incorporate a variety of exercise movements into one apparatus. These systems are generally less expensive than their fitness-center-quality counterparts, but are still generally more expensive compared to a free weight system. The at-home systems also generally do not satisfactorily enable the quality of exercise afforded by exercise-specific weight machines or free weights thereby decreasing exercise effectiveness leading to disuse of the at-home system.
Thus, there is a need for a lower-cost alternative for strength and weight training exercise equipment that also promotes safe and satisfactory use of that equipment. One possible solution is to allow dumbbells to fulfill multiple functions during free weight training. Lifters generally purchase both weighted plates (for barbell exercises) and dumbbells for free weight training. However, systems have been developed which allow the dumbbells to replace, and function generally equivalent to, weighted plates. These systems generally employ a sleeve and holder where the sleeve slides over the end of a bar with the holder arranged to hold the dumbbell. However, these systems suffer significant setbacks. Importantly, these systems do not allow pivoting of the dumbbell during an exercise. Thus, as the bar is lifted displacing the downward force of gravity, the dumbbells at the ends of the bar cannot pivot to maintain the dumbbell in a generally parallel position with the floor. Thus, as the bar is moved (for instance during a bicep curl) the ends of the dumbbell become unbalanced relative to the bar (and therefore the lifter's arms) causing the bar to want to twist or rotate to place the ends of the dumbbells in a generally parallel plane with the floor. This twisting or rotating force may potentially cause the lifter to lose control of the bar or otherwise cause injury to the lifter as the lifter must then not only conduct the lift exercise but must also strain muscles to maintain control over the bar. Present attempts to permit pivoting of the dumbbell during the movement of the bar suffer from the setback that the sleeve will eventually become dislodged from the bar during use. This creates danger not only from the falling weight, but also from the sudden loss of weight on one end of the bar causing the weighted end to drop thereby potentially striking the lifter with both the weighted end (with the dumbbell still attached) or the non-weighted end (the now dumbbell-less bar).
As such, there is a need for a device and system that safely permits a weight lifter to combine dumbbell and bar bell exercises by pivotally mounting a bracket for cradling dumbbells onto a weight lifting bar such that the dumbbells are releasably secured within the bracket cradle without the bracket becoming dislodged from the bar during use. The present invention addresses this and other needs.